"You know, we had started issuing business visas quite a while back. Now, we have started to interview a limited number of people for student visas and for exchange visitors' visas," Richard Snelsire, Information Officer/Spokesperson, Public Affairs Section, told Business Recorder during a telephonic conversation from US Embassy in the federal capital.
According to the spokesman, the US Consulate is conducting about 90 interviews per week for visas under the categories of student, exchange programs, like Fulbright, and exchange visits. "Right now, I think, we are interviewing about 90 people a week... 4,500 a year, something like that," he added. There were a few special cases like that of the very old people who, Snelsire said, were being interviewed here because of their physical inability to travel to Islamabad.
The interviews, however, would be open for "everybody" after completion of the new US Consulate building here, which, the US official said, was hopefully due in the fall. "Once we move into the new Consulate building... then the ultimate goal is to do everybody... just like an embassy does," the spokesman said. Snelsire told Business Recorder that the current US Consulate building lacks enough space for accommodating other applicants.
"The problem is we don't have enough space right now in the present consulate building... to do all types of visas. So we limited it to business, students, exchange visitors," he said, adding: "We would interview tourists, business people, all people who want to apply for a visa."
Asked if Washington had adopted any specific criteria for interviews in view of security concerns, the spokesman confidently replied in the negative, saying: "No, no! we have security at the embassy in Karachi." Earlier, Snelsire had told this reporter that Washington would start offering "full visa services" in Pakistan, its non-Nato strategic ally in global war against terrorism, in the fall of 2010.